Plans afoot for better student placement

Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service
Shimla, October 7

All engineering and professional institutions, affiliated to Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU), will be required to sign at least five MoUs with various industrial units for better placement of students.

The HPTU has directed all institutions to tie up with firms for ensuring jobs to the students. The university has also decided to give research grants to the tune of Rs 50,000 each to its affiliated colleges.

“The focus is on quality, empowerment and accreditation of the NIRF, NAAC; and other affiliated bodies to ensure qualitative improvement in institutions,” said Vice-Chancellor Prof SP Bansal, adding that 35 skill-based crash courses were being offered.

Recently, the university allotted research projects worth lakhs to the faculty of colleges and signed national and international MoUs for the promotion of research.

It will soon sign MoUs with IIT-Mandi, NIT-Hamirpur, IIM-Sirmaur and IIIT-Una for faculty development programmes under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP), a World Bank project.

“The university does not believe in only enrolment ratio, but also empowerment ratio. It’s focus is on more relevant skill-based technical courses with higher employment potential,” the Vice-Chancellor added.

To provide better jobs to the students, the university has also decided to organise a “Job Mela”.

For the first time, the university has started GATE training and employment training in all affiliated colleges and taken various new initiatives under the Rs 18-crore TEQIP-III World Bank project for the implementation of ERP, opening of a data centre, a web studio, an e-Library and a research hub in energy and environment.

“The process to start the HPTU research centre is underway. A sports academy will come up in Himachal Pradesh Technical University and its affiliated institutions for the academic session 2019-20,” Bansal said.

The HPTU with six off-campuses and 46 affiliated colleges is running about 30 undergraduate, postgraduate and technical courses. It recently started eight UG and PG courses.